Predator spying revelations rock Greek ruling elite

In June 2022 it was revealed that an attempt had been made to infect with Predator the phone of Nikos Androulakis, leader of the social democratic PASOK. Androulakis was then a candidate in the PASOK leadership election and the surveillance reportedly stopped shortly after he was elected party leader in December 2021.

Predator was developed by North Macedonian start-up Cytrox in 2017 and was acquired in 2019 by Israeli cyber-security company Intellexa. Insight into how Predator works was provided by a report published this month—based on leaked internal Intellexa documents and a forensic analysis carried out by Amnesty International’s security lab.

Unable to fully bury the affair, prosecutors chose instead to initiate criminal proceedings against senior individuals linked to Intellexa and Predator’s wider supply chain:

• Tal Dillian founder of Intellexa and a former Israeli commander with Unit 81—the Israeli Army’s secret technology unit.

• Dillian’s wife Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou who also held a senior role at Intellexa.

• Felix Bitzios, a Greek businessman who was Intellexa’s former deputy director in Greece.

• Yiannis Lavranos, the owner of government-linked security firm Krikel, which is reportedly part of Predator’s supply chain in Greece.

Despite efforts to absolve the government of any wrongdoing, the incriminating evidence is so overwhelming it has proved impossible to keep a lid on it during court proceedings.

#notmetoosocialist sometimes prints interesting stuff (btw there is funny stuff travelling on twitter, that their chatbot will defend weinstein)